As I wrote last week, house hunting can be very different in Spain than what we are used to in the Netherlands. And because after twenty or more viewings we no longer have a clear memory of all the houses – let alone the location in which the house in question was located – we regularly refer to the most striking aspect of the house or the viewing to remind each other of it again. So when guests ask us about the strangest viewing, we don’t have to think about it for long. As we start digging through our memories for the various home visits, we quickly come to the same conclusion. It’s not the house with the many cracks, the house that smelled like cat pee or the house with a dead squirrel floating in their swimming pool. No. Our top three strangest viewings would come down to: Pinoso (Alicante), Álora (Málaga) and our current house in Benialí (Alicante).
Because after the British real estate agent who would accompany us on the viewings in Pinoso heard that we were looking for a house that was large enough to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast, she informed our purchasing agent from Valencia that her own house was also was still on the market. Would we be interested in viewing her house the same day? If we’re talking about courtesy viewings, this was definitely one of them. Because unlike all the other houses we had visited so far, there was not a single authentic detail to be found in this modern new-build house. The swimming pool was surrounded by artificial grass and by the ‘beautiful’ view I think she meant the arid sandy soil that surrounded the house on four sides. But the fact that there was no logic whatsoever in the newly constructed house – where the bedrooms and associated “ensuite” bathrooms, separated by a corridor, were directly opposite each other – was perhaps the worst part. Because what good is a private bathroom without the privacy to move freely between it and the bedroom? It is clear that this house has never been one of the contenders. After all, we live in Benialí and not in Pinoso.
The house in Álora, on the other hand, did have potential. The fact that the viewing is still so clearly etched in our memories has nothing to do with the house – but everything to do with the viewing. The fact that the house, which had been for sale for some time, was rented to a foreign (Scandinavian?) family at the time of our viewing was no problem for us. It soon became clear that they (conversely) were even less concerned about our visit. While we entered the kitchen, they were all having breakfast together. Beside a small nod to greet us, we were completely ignored. No problem. Whether or not the house would be sold was not important to them. But when we moved from bedroom to bedroom a few minutes later (at our own pace) to take a good look at the possibilities regarding creating a Bed & Breakfast, one of my sisters quickly closed the door of one of the bedrooms again. “Someone is still sleeping in there!” she exclaimed in shock. After we also decided to take a quick look inside (because we wanted to at least see all the rooms), we had to agree with her. One of the family members felt that a viewing of the house was not reason enough to leave his bed before eleven o’clock in the morning.
Strange. That’s for sure. But perhaps the strangest thing of all is that my sister, Suzanne, did not even view our current house before we purchased it. Forget the sales-happy real estate agent from Pinoso or the sleeping beauty from Álora. The fact that my sister dared to buy our house without even seeing it is perhaps the strangest thing of all.